Interesting times

We seem to be having a stream of interesting food of late. As I've already said, we ate well on our trip away. Ever since then good eating has continued. 

Sunday, the day of our travel home, of necessity had to be something easy, something from the freezer. We took out a mass-produced chicken pie. For once it was full of chicken pieces, not the usual hunt around for anything that resembled meat. The pastry, too, was light.

Monday was a case of getting something out of the freezer. this time some left-over roast lamb. A shepherd's pie, I thought. The meat felt very dry & hard even when thawed out. I didn't hold out too much hope, especially when it was such a simple recipe. Nonetheless I diced up the meat & fried it up with some chopped onion, before adding some lamb stock & simmering for a bit. I tasted it, thinking a bit of something extra may be needed to give the meat some interest, but no it was tender & very lamby. I left it to cool while I made some mash, suitably enriched with milk, butter (yes, the real stuff!) & seasoning. I then stirred in some grated cheese & covered the meat with the mash. All waited then until the evening & a reheat. It was wonderful. Mash so creamy, lamb so lamby - a classic for good reason & wonderful comfort food. Simple but delicious.

So on Tuesday, the Fox took up the culinary challenge - spicy prawns & chorizo. He's already written about that on his blog so I won't say more. Suffice to say the prawns were so sweet, the spice sufficient to add interest without overpowering the fish. Delicious.

So we come to last night, a trial at a new recipe, a quick lasagne. I was decidedly nervous about making this dish. The odd thing about this recipe is the absence of any pasta. Instead, layers of pitta bread were used. It worked surprisingly well. The juiciness of the minced beef in tomato sauce seeped into the bread so it almost resembled lasagne. The minced beef & tomato was enhanced with some fresh mushrooms. The tomatoeyness was made more subtle with the use, not only of tinned tomatoes & tomato puree, but also some tomato ketchup. Just to add yet more tomato there was a layer of sliced fresh tomato. All the fresh veg added extra interest. Then, of course, there was the cheese - just teaspoonfuls of cream cheese & some grated cheddar. Unusual but good.

So today, the Fox is cooking once more. He's getting out Big Ears, the slow cooker, & having a go at a chicken in white wine. There's some mushrooms in this sauce as well. Should be good. I'm looking forward to it.

Interesting times. Maybe what I'm really saying is that it's good to be home & be back to good home cooking. I expect the more mediocre meals will soon return but, at the moment, we're glorying in the delight of good eating.